El Paso Doble (Double-Step) (Primera Parte)
At 8AM President Juarez wakes up to two rather startling stories in La Prensa Libre, Gran Colombia’s most read newspaper – one about the discovery of traitors in the government and the Army, and the other about the assassination of Vice President Bolívar. He shakes his head, knowing that these stories are bound to cause public chaos. He then visits Lt. Supamaanz and the rest of the heroes, telling them of the press leak and asking them to come with him to the offices of La Prensa Libre. Enter Sergeant Roberto Sandoval – otherwise known as El Rifle (The Rifle) – who is known for his prowess in rifle shooting and is drafted into the specialist traitor-hunting team. Meanwhile, in the spy network safehouse – a decently-furnished hacienda just outside the centre of Tenochtitlán – Lucía wakes up to a very worried discussion about: Juarez knowing about the assassination attempt on his life; and the press leak regarding the traitors and the assassination of the Vice President. She attempts to calm her fellow spy, James Camacho, but to no avail. She tells him that this isn’t anything they haven’t dealt with before, but he has entirely too many worries on his mind, especially that the network will be found out in light of the changes they’ve experienced with the Fuego Azul. Lucía remarks that he’s made an interesting confession about his own change in loyalties. He becomes defensive and observes that it’s obviously happened to her as well; otherwise, she wouldn’t have the blue flame-light glow about her. He then asks her what they’re to do now that this has happened. She tells him to stop being stupid, given that there will quite probably be those listening who aren’t having their same difficulties. She also suggests that everyone go about their business as normal until they can all figure out a way to keep themselves from any potential harm from either side. They agree to meet back at the safehouse in 12 hours. Lucía manages to return to the military base just in time to hear the tail end of Juarez’s discussion with the remaining heroes. She fakes contrition, curtseying to Juarez; he asks her to drop the pretence because he already knows about her change of heart. He shows her the headlines from La Prensa Libre and asks her if she’d like to accompany them to their headquarters to speak to the editor; she agrees to come along in order to coerce the editor if necessary. Juarez transports them just outside the offices of La Prensa Libre. They end up just outside the local cemetery near the offices of La Prensa Libre, and they notice the Fuego Azul shooting into one grave in particular; the man breaks out of the grave, startling the heroes. They decide to wait for him to start approaching before doing anything. Eventually Lt. Supamaanz asks the undead revenant whether he’s friend or foe; he replies that he doesn’t know, and that he only remembers that he’s been killed and wants revenge on his killer although he doesn’t remember the identity of the killer. Supamaanz asks whether he remembers his name, and he introduces himself as Sgt. Gustavo Dominguez. Supamaanz is pleased to have a fellow officer on the team and welcomes him. He asks the man, to whom he gives the codename Hombre No Muerto (Non-Dead Man), to wait in hiding just outside the newspaper offices as the others go in. The heroes – minus Hombre No Muerto – enter the offices of La Prensa Libre and request to speak with the editor. At first the secretary – a young woman – is reluctant but she changes her mind when she sees that President Juarez is among the group. She calls for the editor, Gustavo López, to come to reception. López appears and takes the heroes into his office. Lt. Supamaanz shows him today’s headlines and, while expressing an appreciation for freedom of the press, expresses his concern that the untimely headlines have complicated an issue of national security and asks López for the name of his informant. At first López is reluctant, but El Tigre de Plata gently persuades him that the matter is of vital importance. It turns out that the leak is Carlos Hernández (no relation to Lucía) – unbeknownst to the rest of the party at the time, Hernández is one of Lucía’s fellow spies. She shakes her head at his stupidity behind a facepalm; however, considering that she has to maintain her Hermana Lucita persona in public, she tells everyone around when questioned that she laments so much corruption in her precious Gran Colombia. Upon leaving the offices, Lucía explains that the leak is part of her spy network, and that she’ll deal with him at the appropriate time. Meanwhile, the heroes retrieve their lookout, Hombre No Muerto, and continue on to the Church of Guanajuato - in order to extract information from the known traidor, Archbishop José Gallardo - via President Juarez’s rather useful power of instant teleportation. The heroes land just outside the church in the surrounding mountainous desert wilderness. Everyone manages to find adequate cover except Hombre No Muerto, and Lt. Supamaanz pulls him behind protective cover. At this point El Cacto de las Montañas (The Cactus of the Mountains) - a one-foot-tall cactus simply known to viewers as "El Cacto" from a previous cameo - uses his psychic powers to probe Supamaanz's mind (as he can see through his mind and connected senses, spotting the very obvious undead man), introduce himself, and ask what Supamaanz is doing. When Supamaanz explains that he and his party are planning to infiltrate the Church of Guanajuato, El Cacto offers to help. For a moment Rascar Capac believes Supamaanz has gone mad but satisfies himself that Supamaanz is actually receiving a psychic transmission. El Tigre de Plata is curious about whom Supamaanz is talking to and asks him, at which point El Cacto - joyous upon hearing El Tigre de Plata's voice - floats in the air for all to see, expresses complete hero worship for El Tigre de Plata, and reiterates his offer to help. The team are happy to accept his help, and Lucía outlines the plan. Since the rather corpulent Archbishop Gallardo is already intimately known to Lucía, she will take him to his private chamber and begin to seduce him, with El Tigre de Plata and El Rifle hiding just outside the front entrance, and then when she's ready for the rest of the party to begin the raid she'll signal via El Cacto. El Tigre de Plata and El Rifle get into hidden positions just outside the entrance, and Lucía walks in, easily able to masquerade as one of the local nuns. Having just finished his breakfast, Archbishop Gallardo (in his Archbishop vestments) takes his morning walk through the halls and smiles widely upon seeing Lucía. He tells her what a pleasure it is to see her, and she suggests they have a chat in his private chamber, which he greedily accepts. They go to his bedchamber, and they start making out after Lucía takes off her robes. Not being familiar with kissing and basic foreplay, El Cacto psychically screams and asks what Lucía is doing; fortunately she psychically calms him and tells him to wait for the signal. The psychic signal "Now!" comes just as Lucía is appearing to begin to strip the top half of her clothing off. The first to reach the private chamber are El Tigre de Plata and El Rifle (having jumped through an open window), followed by a very noisy Hombre No Muerto and Supamaanz (having busted the back door open). Rascar Capac and President Juarez run in after them, and soon the heroes subdue Archbishop Gallardo, at which Supamaanz offers the team premature congratulations. Unfortunately El Cacto isn't so lucky - he flies at a closed window, using telekinesis to attempt to open it, but fails to do so, crashes into it and accidentally incapacitates himself. As it turns out, our heroes aren't so lucky, either. After the takedown of Gallardo, his four guards burst into the room, their rifles trained on the heroes. Fortunately, though, El Rifle shoots one of the guards' rifles to the floor, leaving him without a weapon to fire. El Tigre de Plata manages to take another guard down, but that guard soon regains his resolve, very neatly shooting a bullet into El Tigre de Plata's muscular belly (although fortunately very little damage was caused)! Hombre No Muerto fortunately finds a crucifix on the floor and throws it right between another guard's eyes, killing him. The fourth and final guard very nearly hits El Rifle but misses due to El Rifle's quick thinking and even quicker reflexes. Supamaanz, usually a much more adept fighter, manages to miss his shot. Luckily for the heroes, though, El Rifle shoots the weapon-less guard in the arm before he can do any damage to anyone, and El Tigre de Plata knocks his foe unconscious with a well-timed blow to the jaw, causing him to cry out a very emphatic "¡Uyyyyyyy!" before going unconscious. Lucía convinces the guards who are still awake and alive to desist with the battle and cooperate. Time passes, and El Cacto wakes up worrying about his friends. He declares the window his Nemesis, worrying it is stopping him helping his friends, and again fails to move it with his mind. He then makes a heroic battle cry and barrages the windows with needles... and the window opens. Slightly. As El Cacto 'bursts' through, the heroes reassure him that the situation is well in hand. Lucía uses her mind-reading power to discern that Gallardo has been in collaboration with a high-ranking general known to President Juarez, and that they (as well as the aforementioned Carlos Hernández) have been taking bribes from the British spy Edward Miles in exchange for Gran Colombian weaponry to fight British America's Southern rebels... El Cacto also telepathically discerns most of this information himself and psychically relays this to the team in a rather cryptic fashion due to his limited vocabulary. The team now have another tantalising piece to the complicated puzzle of the traidores. The heroes hastily exit the Church, but not before Lucía writes in blood, "¡VIVA LA RECONQUISTA DE LA SOMBRA!" ("Long live the Reconquista de la Sombra {Reconquest of the Shadow}"), thus placing the blame on a fringe extremist group who want their own version of the Gran Colombian dream of Reconquista. Seeing via remote sensing that El Tigre de Plata is injured, El Cacto uses his telekinetic powers to remove the bullet and to clot the blood from the wound. El Tigre de Plata feels better and thanks El Cacto, who promptly gives him a prickly hug, which surprisingly doesn't hurt. El Cacto reflects on his newly discovered powers and laments that he's alone among all cacti, with no other cacti to relate to. Rascar Capac reassures him that since the Fuego Azul touched him, he has a gift from the gods which makes him unique and powerful, blessed among cacti. El Cacto also gives Rascar Capac a prickly hug, which again doesn't hurt either party. El Cacto bids his new friends goodbye until the next time that he's needed, and they return to their original hiding spot in order to teleport back to base with Juarez...or so they think! TO BE CONTINUED!